A Single Mom's Journey to Freedom

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Well hello and good morning to you all!!! Here I go again on another one of my hair brained plans. I have become a vegetarian, or so I think I have. I don’t know, how long do you have to go without eating meat before you can officially say you’re a vegetarian? A week? A month? Years? Is there a vegetarian handbook out there? Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter because I make up my own rules as I go. This is MY life isn’t it?

So far I’ve gone 1 day without eating meat and honestly I really don’t see this as a potential future problem. I really think I can do this! I shall see I guess and so will all of you. Until I either crack or turn green I will see you next time my lovely followers.

Well here goes another series of random thoughts that came to me in a typical bubble-above-my-head fashion. As some of you may or may not know I have been taking steps towards improving my health. I have changed my eating habits and have increased (initiated) my, previously non-existent, exercise regimen.

This all originally was started by my aunt and my mom. The day after Christmas (2012) they suggested that all three of us make some changes to the ways we eat, which of course is female talk equaling one word: diet.

Oh well, I don’t like the sound of that word but it is what it is. Being that I love those kind of challenges I was definitely up for our friendly competition. So, just to spare you the boring details, I’ll briefly summarize how we are doing (sort of).

Again, we began this challenge on 12/26/12 and so far I have lost 35.5 lbs. Unfortunately, that’s the extent of sharing I can do as I’d rather not share anyone else’s personal business. Sorry.

Anywho, I recently watched the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.” It was basically a movie about juicing and the health benefits that come along with it. It was a great movie and I’m extremely interested in attempting to try a 10 day juice fast. I only have a few concerns:

Cost of buying a good juicer

Cost of buying tons of veggies/fruits

Cost on my body. (What I mean by this is; is it safe to be on a juice fast with the level of activity I currently do? I wouldn’t want to pass out in the middle of boxing class, ya know!)

I’m not too sure about that last one but I do have an appointment with a dietitian later on this month so hopefully they can help me with my questions. I also have been dabbling with the idea of becoming a vegetarian. (I know that whoever knows me and reads this will probably be laughing their socks off at this point but please keep them on as I stick my tongue out to you :p). The problem is that I don’t really know any vegetarians and I get stuck second guessing myself and thinking “What the cheese flakes is there to eat?” Perhaps there are some of you readers who can give me some insight on this?

Lastly, I wanted to share a bit of a spiritual moment I had last night in class. FYI: My religious preference is difficult to explain….so I won’t 🙂 (You can thank me later!) With this said, my professor was discussing an excerpt from one of the novels we are reading. It was about one of the characters describing how humans cannot define God using “God is _____.” This is because any word we use would be limited to our vocabulary and therefore attempting to contain God which of course is absurd because God is not something/someone who can be contained. The character went on to say that if you see someone/something “God-like,” simply say that it was a form of God. Basically meaning that God has made Itself into a certain form for your benefit.

The professor also made a statement regarding Holy communion and how it is representative of how God becomes the bread and the wine in order to come within you. He ended with a question that got me really thinking. “Can you digest divinity?” – (Dr. David Pringle) I believe the answer is both yes and no.

Well it has officially been…..an umpteen amount of days since I’ve last blogged & now I’m back! (Please hold your applause til the end. Hee hee)

Just as an update, let me inform you of what’s been going on in my oh-so-busy life.

To skim the surface, let me give you an abbreviated view of this determined mom’s life.

– I am currently working 2 jobs.
– I am going to school.
– I (still) have 4 children.
– 2 of the above mentioned children are on soccer teams.
– I (still) have a boyfriend.
– I have run 3 5K’s (with above mentioned boyfriend.)
– I participate in a Zumba class twice a week.
– I participate in a boxing class twice a week.
– I run 2-3 times a week.
– I try & swim at least once a week.
– I have lost 35.5lbs since December 26, 2012.
– I’m starting up my blog again.

I’m probably missing a few key, life elements to this list but as you can see I’m quite busy & am not the greatest at remembering everything at once.

With all of that said I’m very excited about starting up my blog again. This is yet another one of the “writing” challenges that I’ve given myself. I’m sure you’ve heard if how people will say, “if you want to become a writer, start writing!”

It was so very exciting. I finally got to make a (successful) connection with someone in the Deaf community. I was brave enough to set up a meeting with the head of the Deaf Ministry in a church that’s near my home. She was extremely nice and wonderfully patient with me and my signing skills (or lack thereof). I found out many helpful things from her and she is willing to help me hone my skills.

She teaches an ASL class at the church and invited me to the class as a supplement to the ASL II course I’m already taking. Like myself, she is also of Puerto Rican descent and has a few Spanish-speaking students in her class as well. She suggested that I also start taking Spanish classes because the Deaf community is in desperate need of Spanish-speaking ASL interpreters. She also said, being that I am Hispanic, it would be great for me to improve my Spanish and help my children learn as well.

I’ve done so much research today on what school to go to next for the Sign Language Interpreter Program and have been working on changing my major to an AA in Foreign Languages for Spanish at my current college. Today has been an outstanding day! Oh! Also, as an added bonus, I had an interview this morning at a nearby hospital for a phlebotomy position which has extremely flexible hours and therefore shouldn’t interfere with school (I think I nailed that interview!)

Hello again folks. Well, here goes my latest update: “30 Days of Yoga” is over. Not because it was too hard or I was bored or anything but because I’ve started school again and so have my children so I haven’t gotten the hang of our adjusted schedules as of yet. I may or may not take it back up and/or notify the community of it (just saying).

Anywho, I wanted to share the impact that a particular class I’m taking has had on me just in this first week. The class is Interpersonal Relationships. The official course description goes like this: This course provides a study of personal growth and development through student discussion of interpersonal relationships and utilization of vital life skills such as dynamic, pro-active communication skills (verbal and non-verbal); active listening and response skills; and conflict resolution techniques. This course explores how to manage feelings; interpret human behavior, feelings, and stress; and overcome barriers to communication.

So this class is basically “Life 101.”

I had this professor for my Literature class and I loved it/him! So he mentioned that he had this Interpersonal Relationships course and I was hooked. I am always trying to find ways to improve myself and I thought that this would be a great addition. There are lots of people who wouldn’t bother taking this class because it’s not a requirement but just from what I’ve learned so far, I think it should be. Our first night we watched a video by Dr. Leo Buscaglia. If you haven’t watched or read anything by him you should check out YouTube. I think this man was the epitome of an angel and that he must have blessed many people with his messages on love. You can truly see how he loved people (he had a nickname of Dr. Love).

I feel that our society doesn’t take enough time to emphasize the importance of educating ourselves on life situations and what it means to be human. I think that the focus has shifted so intensely to traditional education such as reading, writing and math that this world has simply become too busy to worry about things like feelings, emotions and how we treat one another. We’ve separated ourselves and made our feelings seem unimportant. We’ve become so engrossed with nourishing our intellect that we’ve forgotten the importance of nurturing our souls. We don’t share our pain or struggle with others because we don’t want people to think that we’re too emotionally “high maintenance.” We only share our highs and mask our lows. Then we ostracize anyone who has these lows and tell them to get over it and pick themselves up instead of telling them how we have also hurt and how we can relate. (Sadly, I have been guilty of this as well.)

We’ve created this fake society of non-feeling people. Ones who don’t have time to listen to beautiful music, watch a play or just admire works of art. Humanities, music and art courses/classes are the first to go whenever there are school budget cuts. Before I even started this course I’ve been working on getting to know me as a person. For so many years I only wanted to focus on pleasing my partners and bending to their will in order to keep them happy. I’m still a work in progress but I feel much better about myself now and know that I don’t have to bend over backwards for anyone’s attention. I want to learn to love people without having my life depend on whether or not they love me back. I’ve been reading tons of books, watching lots of movies, and am trying everything I can to fill myself with all the knowledge I desire not only the knowledge required by our institutions. I think overall taking a course like this will help me become a better person which is my ultimate goal.

Hopefully, I can continue to share more of what I learn in this course and life in general. Thanks for reading.

Hello all. I apologize for not posting my progress yesterday. I did well with my Yoga and meditation, however, hit a snag in my life later on that evening. This snag has continued into today and unfortunately I’ve allowed it to interrupt my flow. I know I shouldn’t allow this, however, it has currently tied me up both physically and mentally. I feel that it is very important to take special care of this issue before moving on. I wish I was brave enough to share it with you all but I am not at that point yet. I will do my best to recover from this quickly and try to get back to my Yoga endeavors. Until then I may or may not be posting any blogs. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Well today marks my first day trying out Yoga. I meditated for about 15 minutes prior to starting (something else I’ve decided to start simultaneously), however, I have some mixed emotions about how it went. I searched on YouTube and there were quite a few “Yoga for beginners” videos. I tried a few and I think I’ve found the one I liked the most. Below I will list my likes and dislikes about my first Yoga experience.

Likes:

Being that I was watching these videos on YouTube there was plenty of variety therefore I was able to check as many as I wanted out prior to starting. I felt very relaxed and really had a sense of peace during and after my session. I can see the benefits of starting an exercise routine like this.

Dislikes:

I don’t have the proper equipment/gear to be able to perform some of the poses (i.e., yoga mat, belt, etc.). I also, couldn’t get the kids quiet enough for me to concentrate and focus on what I was doing. I realize that these “dislikes” have nothing to do with actual Yoga and more to do with me.

Overall I think it was great and I will keep on going and chronicle my journey along the way. As always any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. 🙂